


all i need (is you to protect me)

by Jenny_Jensen



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: 3x05, F/M, Missing Scene, Post 3x04, needed fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 01:05:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16629950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenny_Jensen/pseuds/Jenny_Jensen
Summary: Her eyes rolling back is enough to snap him out of whatever trance he’s been under since he first sat down with his inner circle Serpents to play the game.He’s not fast enough to catch her.





	all i need (is you to protect me)

**Author's Note:**

> Ever have nights where you just can't sleep, and there's just an idea stuck in your head? This was one of those times.

* * *

Her eyes rolling back is enough to snap him out of whatever trance he’s been under since he first sat down with his inner circle Serpents to play the game.

Though he’s standing, having risen to his feet in shock the second she entered the bunker, he’s not fast enough to catch her.

Luckily, Fangs is.

He jumps to his feet, his chair falling to the ground with a dull thud, catching Betty’s collapsing body with just a single arm curling around her shoulders.

“Betts!” He cries, rushing to her side, taking Fangs place as the one to hold her up. “Betty? Baby? Can you hear me?”

One by one, they all come to their senses.

“Jug?” Toni asks hesitantly, her hand curling around Cheryl’s.

He ignores her, brushing his knuckles across his girlfriend’s cheek.

“C’mon, Betts.” He coaxes, to no avail. “Baby, come on. Let me see those pretty green eyes.”

“The fuck just happened?” Sweet Pea demands, surveying their latest mess. “Jones?”

“Oh, Cousin Betty.” Cheryl quips, lips forming a thin line. “Always the drama queen.”

It’s the last comment that makes his blood boil, despite knowing just how much Cheryl cares for her only sane family member.

“Leave.” Jughead grits out, a hint of finality to his tone that none of them dare to argue with. “Now.”

One by one, his crew leaves the bunker, climbing the same ladder his girlfriend had descended only moments ago. Toni, always his right hand, tried to stay, but after the last few hours, he can’t be around them. Not yet.

A look is all it takes for her to back away.

Fangs lingers for a second longer, asking Jughead to call, or at least send a text when Betty comes to, Sweet Pea echoing the request from outside, and he only nods, resisting the urge to smirk at them over his shoulder. Despite their checkered history, Alice’s checkered past with the Serpents having been handed down to her youngest daughter, he knows the soft spot both Sweet Pea and Fangs hold for Betty, their Serpent Queen, and seeing her fall so hard so fast had alarmed even them.

Finally alone, he swings her up into the air, cradling her to his chest as he carries her to the makeshift bed they had used many, _many_ times, his palm pressing to her cheek, thumb brushing across the smooth surface of her skin, back and forth as he again tried to awaken her.

“Betts?”

“Hmm...”

It wasn’t another seizure, thank _god_ , but if it had been, he wouldn’t have wasted another thought, slinging her onto the back of his bike, taking her to the hospital, facing Alice Cooper’s wrath yet again just to ensure that his girl was safe.

_“Betts.”_ Jughead warns, losing patience. “Betty, come on, baby, wake up.”

Finally, her eyes lull open.

“Baby.” He mutters, fingers knotting in her hair as he leans over her, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. “You scared me.”

“Juggie.” She whispers, blinking, taking in her surroundings. “What happened?”

“You fainted.” He tells her, lips forming a thin, permanent line. “I don’t want you looking into the game anymore, Betty.”

“And I don’t want you playing it anymore.” Betty returns, mimicking his expression.

“Fine.” Jughead agrees, without hesitation, because he will never deny her anything.

“What about the others?”

“They won’t play again either.”

Immediate doubt crosses her face.

“Betts.” He says, sounding exasperated. “They won’t.”

He’s not speaking as her boyfriend, but as the Serpent King, a title he had learned to wear almost begrudgingly, and his word is law. Her softening eyes shows that she believes him.

“Now you promise me.”

“I can’t.” She answers.

_“Betty.”_

“Jug, I can’t.” Betty insists, trying to sit up.

He grasps her by the shoulders, gently pinning her to the mattress, not trusting her to make any sudden movements.

“Betty.” Jughead snaps. “You’re not looking into this game. My dad was right to destroy it. You saw what happened to me and the Serpents just now. It’s addictive. It’s _dangerous.”_

He couldn’t touch it again.

He wouldn’t, and he would be damned if he let anyone he cared about touch it either.

Especially Betty.

“Jug, we can’t just give up-”

“We can, and we will.” Jughead announces, releasing his grip on her arms. “No more investigating, Nancy Drew. You’re done.”

Betty stares up at him in disbelief. “Excuse me?” “

You’re done.” He repeats with a smirk.

“You can’t just-”

“Well, good luck trying to find out anything else, Betts.” Jughead sneers, tracing a pattern across her cheek with his finger. “Because after tonight, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Her jaw falls, gaze hardening. “Jughead-”

“Sorry, baby.”

“You’re not sorry!” She hisses, knowing him, too well at times, he thinks.

“You’re right, Betts.” He replies cheekily, cradling her neck, pressing a hard kiss to her mouth, despite her anger. “I’m not.”

“Why are you trying to control me?” Betty whispers.

“I’m not.”

“Then what are you-”

“I’m _protecting_ you.” Jughead insists, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m always protecting you, Betty, whether you wanna believe that or not.”

“So by watching my every move, you’re “protecting” me?” She demands, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Well... Not just me.”

_“Forsyth Pendleton Jones.”_ Betty scowls at him, and he can’t resist kissing her again, because she is just too damn adorable when she gets angry. “You did _not_ tell the Serpents to keep an eye on me for you!”

“No.” He says, grinning. “Of course not.”

“Oh.” She smiles, almost looking relieved. “Good.”

“I _asked_ them to. There’s a big difference, Betts.”

_“ _Jug.”_ _

Jughead sighs. “We don’t have every class together, baby.”

“So?” She shoots back. “In case you haven’t noticed, Jug, I’m not made of porcelain. I’m the Serpent Queen, I’m strong. I survived the Black Hood, and the Serpent dance and... I’m not something that you need to protect, Juggie.” “Yes, you are.”

Betty’s frown deepens. “Jughead-”

“Betty.” Jughead returns, just as firmly. “Yes, you did survive the dance, and the horrible mess your father left for you to clean up, and yes, you are the Serpent Queen, you are strong, the strongest person I know, but you are also my girlfriend, the person I love most in this world, the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with...”

Her eyes widen.

“Juggie...”

“Do you really expect me not to try and protect you?” He demands, ignoring her. “Betts, you had a seizure, and, you just _fainted_ on me. I’m not going to let this game mess with your mind the way it almost did mine. I don’t care if you hate me for it. You’re done. End of discussion.”

Betty presses a palm to his lips.

“Did you mean it?” She questions.

Jughead flings her hand away from his mouth, threading their fingers together, squeezing softly as he throws her a disbelieving look. “Did you not hear me say _end of discussion_ , Cooper?”

“Juggie.” Betty whines. “Not that.”

“Oh.” His cheeks redden. “About wanting to spend the rest of my life with you? Well, yeah, Betts, but you already knew that.”

“That’s the first time you’ve said it.” She points out.

“I told you that I was gonna love you forever, Betty.”

“Not my favorite memory, Jughead.”

“Right.” He mutters, looking apologetic. “Sorry. You do know that, though, right, baby? That I’m always gonna love you? That the only thing I want is to spend the rest of my life with you?”

“I know, Juggie.” Betty tells him, cradling his face, slowly lifting her head to chase his lips. “It’s all I want too.”

They kiss for what feels like hours, and he has to force himself to pull away, reminding himself that after her recent fainting epidemic, any physical activity was probably not a very good idea.

He smirks as a pout graces her lips.

“Later, baby.” He promises, kissing her nose.

“Jug?”

“Hmm?”

“Our parents played.”

He pauses, brows arching in disbelief. “Um, what?”

“Our parents played.” Betty echoes.

“Yeah, baby, I heard you the first time.” Jughead mumbles, still sounding skeptical. “I just... How do you know this?” She bites down on her lip. “My mother told me.”

“Well... That’s disturbing.” He concludes, gently shifting her so he could lay down, settling her on top of him, fingers knotting in her hair. “I have to admit, I’m intrigued, Betts, but my answer hasn’t changed. You’re not investigating the game anymore, and neither am I.”

Betty kisses his neck. “Juggie...”

_“No_ , baby.”

She huffs in response. “Fine.”

“Promise me, Betts.”

“Jug.”

_“Betty.”_ Jughead warns, both exhausted and amused. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” She grumbles, eyes lulling shut.

Her breathing evens out, and seconds later, she’s sound asleep, curled up into his side.

Even though he knows she’s lying, because he knows Betty Cooper even better than he knows himself, he decides to pretend that she has told him the truth instead, if only for a moment. In the hectic town of Riverdale, the chaos that is their lives, the ups and downs of their unbreakable relationship, they deserve these times of short lived peace.

He also knows that no matter how bad things get, no matter how far his strong willed girlfriend gets into their own parents dark, dirty little secrets, he’ll be right there, clutching her hand, ready to jump with her.


End file.
